LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - JUNE 2, 2019 by Lynne Belluscio Jim Evinger stopped by the Historical Society a while ago, and asked some ques- tions about the Underground Railroad brochure that we had produced about twenty years ago. I knew soon that his questions were more than casual. He was on a mission to find the truth about the ab- olition stories and the LeRoy Presbyterian Church. When I put the brochure together I wrote: “ In August 1835, the Presbyterian Church was the site of an anti-slavery meeting, but abolition was not popular with many peo- ple. At that time there were four avowed abolitionists in LeRoy: Seth Gates, Samuel Grannis, Deacon Comstock, and Judge Brewster. They organized the meeting at the Presbyterian Church and ad- vertised that an escaped slave would address the crowd. Dr. Reed, a physician from Rochester, and the Rev. A.A. Phelps of Massachusetts ad- dressed the crowd. The room was filled to capacity. A large crowd gathered outside and began to shout obscenities. Windows were smashed and wood and stones were hurled at the speaker’s plat- form. Judge Hascall tried to break up the crowd and was stoned for his efforts. The windows in the home of Seth Gates were smashed and his wife and children had to take refuge in an inner room.” Starting with that quotation, Jim began an extensive re- search project to verify the details. During that research he has found evidence that there were four anti-slav- ery events that were held at the Presbyterian Church and two of these events were met with violence. Jim also researched the people men- tioned in the accounts and found letters, newspaper ac- counts and diary accounts to support the stories. In Miles Lampson’s dia- ry is an account of Frederick Douglass' lecture on Decem- ber 9, 1847 at the Presbyteri- an Church. Miles notes the next day: “Great abolition excitement from lecture of Douglass a colored man.” Jim went to Frederick Dou- glass’ timeline and notes that in August of 1847, Douglass and his family had returned from England and he was speaking in NewYork and by September, he had bought a printing press and moved his family to a home on Alexan- der Street in Rochester. On December 3, 1847, Douglass published his first issue of the North Star newspaper. So it appears that Douglass was indeed in LeRoy six days later and as Jim has discov- ered, in the January 7, 1848 issue of the North Star, Dou- glass writes: “Since the ap- pearance of the first number of the North Star, we have been actively engaged in ad- dressing public meetings in various towns in this and the State of Massachusetts, and doing our best to extend the subscription list of our paper. “We have also held meetings in LeRoy, Darien, P Hill and Rochester, and have spoken at Boston, Lynn and Marble- head, Massachusetts.” Jim has put together a power point presentation about his research and the evidence he has discovered and hopefully he will have an opportunity to present this story at the Presbyterian Church soon. It is a compel- ling story of the strength and commitment of the people of LeRoy. As Jim has written, “They were strong. They were of good courage and they acted.” Abolition Meetings Held in LeRoy First Presbyterian Church Frederick Douglass